{"id":14026,"date":"2024-03-30T23:06:11","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T23:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/30\/how-factory-blast-horrors-played-out-at-hosp-chandigarh-news-times-of-india\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T06:06:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T06:06:08","slug":"how-factory-blast-horrors-played-out-at-hosp-chandigarh-news-times-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/30\/how-factory-blast-horrors-played-out-at-hosp-chandigarh-news-times-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"How Factory Blast Horrors Played Out At Hosp | Chandigarh News –"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"How<\/div>\n
Rohtak: March 16 was just another day at the wards of PGIMS Rohtak. Doctors had done their rounds, nurses scurried around, and patients struck up conversations to pass time. \u201cRoutine\u201d, is how everyone remembers it.
Late in the evening, around 8pm onwards, began a continuous wail of sirens. One ambulance after another, followed by a rush to triage. The ambulances had made a 90km dash from Rewari where, earlier that evening, an explosion on the floor of auto marks manufacturer Lifelong had left many workers critically injured.
The serious ones were brought to PGIMS.There were 23 of them, men with varied degrees of burns who were stretchered into the emergency ward over the next five hours. Some had over 90% burns \u2013 their skin peeling off and revealing the flesh inside.
For doctors and the nursing staff, it would be the beginning of many challenging nights. \u201cIt was a race against time. As ambulances arrived with patients, they were all directed to the trauma triage. The patients were first examined for degree of burns,\u201d said Dr Panjak Chhikara, deputy medical superintendent of the trauma centre and one of the first respondents.
First response<\/span>
As the injured workers writhed and howled, the medical team administered sedatives and shifted them to the ICU, one at a time. \u201cThere was chaos all around. The patients were crying in pain and their relatives were shouting for medicines to be administered. Our surgeons and burn specialists were doing their best,\u201d Dr Chhikara said.
As nurses prepared ICU beds, doctors decided to treat the injured workers on the stretchers itself because time was vital. IV fluids were administered, and injections pushed.
\u201cA trauma centre usually sees heavy activity. But that night was a learning experience for all of us. We raided storerooms for injections and bandages as doctors barked instructions at us. We were divided into small groups of 3-4 to treat each patient. We had to check the vitals to ensure every patient breathed and had a steady heartbeat. Some patients had to be given oxygen as their airways were choked from the smoke in the factory,\u201d a nurse recalled.
As the night wore on, even the 25-odd doctors at work seemed too few. SOS calls were made to other departments \u2013 ENT, cardiology, general surgery and so on.
\u201cTreatment was based on the degree of injuries. There were some who required immediate surgical intervention,\u201d said Dr Kuldeep Singh, senior professor and head of burns, plastic and reconstructive surgery. \u201cTwo of the patients had suffered almost 100% burns. We had to shift them to ICU without wasting a second.\u201d
Never saw such pain<\/span>
As doctors battled to keep the vitals steady, nurses proved to be key helping hands through the night \u2013 from managing the patients and their relatives to getting medicines from the store to the wards.
\u201cThey worked tirelessly along with doctors. They monitored patients\u2019 vitals, changed their dressing and attended to their anxious relatives as well. That night, it was a show of dedication and compassion in the face of an emergency,\u201d said Dr SS Lochab, director at PGIMS Rohtak.
Renu, one of the nurses, couldn\u2019t recollect the last time she had seen patients in so much pain. \u201cI have been part of critical cases, but this was different. Some of the injured workers had no skin on them at all. I had to apply ointment literally on the flesh. They cried in pain and threw their hands in the air, but we had to do our duty. Many of them were charred beyond recognition,\u201d she said.
Meenu, her colleague, said they were lucky that the injured patients came in batches. \u201cHad they come all at once, it would have been difficult for us to manage,\u201d she added.
10 deaths in 8 days<\/span>
The chaos at the burn ward settled over the next couple of days as treatment became more organised. But soon, the tragedy began to inflict its most cruel blows.
The first patient succumbed to injuries on March 19. Two others passed away within hours. The hospital reported three deaths each on March 21 and 23, and another on March 24.
\u201cDeath of a patient is a huge loss for any doctor. Most of the workers admitted here had third-degree burns, which is why their condition deteriorated quickly. Their survival chances were anyway slim, but we did not give up hope,\u201d said Dr Singh.
\u201cThe other patients will need at least a month to recover,\u201d he added.
Other than the 10 deaths till March 24 at PGI Rohtak, one more death was recorded on Saturday. Four other Lifelong workers who were initially taken have died \u2013 one on the way to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi from PGI Rohtak and the others at Safdarjung.
Five battle on <\/span>
Five Lifelong workers are still undergoing treatment at the Rohtak hospital. Their bodies swathed in bandages, they face a lengthy recovery.
The burn injuries are expected to heal in a few weeks. But the March 16 blast in the factory has left a scar most will find difficult to erase.
Among them is Dharmendra Kumar (30). \u201cI was busy working when I heard a loud bang. There were flames all around and people had started running here and there. I can\u2019t remember anything after that. When I opened my eyes, I was here in hospital. I still don\u2019t know who got me here,\u201d he told TOI.
The blast has left several families with an uncertain future. Pooja\u2019s husband \u2013 the sole earning member in the family\u2013 is gone. She has two kids to raise, one aged six and another four.
\u201cI rushed to the factory after getting to know about the blast and was told to head to Rohtak instead. We followed an ambulance but did not know where my husband was. I don\u2019t know how I\u2019ll raise my kids. I haven\u2019t received any help from the govt yet,\u201d she sobbed.
There are some who feel lucky to have escaped.
\u201cMy brother Vikas and I have been working at this factory for eight years. The blast occurred within a minute after I had left for home,\u201d said Raj Mohan (26), whose brother was not as lucky as him and is admitted to the hospital.<\/div>\n